Pages

Dec 23, 2014

Christmas Eve is tomorrow! We go to my family's house on Christmas Eve and my bf's family on Christmas Day. It is a perfect set up so we do not have to try to cram 2 houses into one day. That is just too much. This year I have a lot to be thankful and grateful for as we spend Christmas with our families.

I have seen TONS of Christmas ideas and foods and I want to be festive yet different. I found some beautiful indoor and outdoor displays to share with you.

Can you imagine how much time and work it takes to put up something like that?! What about some of these indoor displays. They are gorgeous! Also, I would like to comment that the next one coming up is really quite the house and I am looking to move into it - I just have to figure out how to make it happen!

Is the below photo someone's house? Please tell me it is a Christmas deco store!

Dec 22, 2014

I am still dealing with an injury and it got worse instead of better. There are a couple things that I think irritated it so in the meantime I haven't been able to do much jumping around﻿ so no jumping jacks, jump squats or anything that is good for me.

It has been a really difficult battle for me but I know I am not alone. There are many other people with injuries and are in the same boat. I am fortunate that I am still mobile and still have use of all my limbs. Thank you Lord! I have created a low impact workout that can also double for beginners.

MARCH KICKS: (march in place, kick - alternating kicks)

DONKEY KICKS

SKIP

Mini SUPERMAN

HIGH KNEES: slower for a soft landing

Do each exercise for 30 seconds with a 10 second rest. Repeat 3x

I created this last week, as well as a couple other ones but now just to have a little blood pumping makes my headache worse. So I created them but cannot do them! My weekend was awesome and busy but no pics. Guess I am kinda burned out... Maybe it is because of my neck being a bummer. I am even seriously considering visiting a physician about surgery. It is going on waaaay too long with no resolve and extremely limiting my life so even though I don't want surgery, I am highly considering it. I can't ride in fast cars, can't be in cold weather, can't snowboard, workout, lift, DANCE, can't sleep on my side or even with my head turned to the side, certain pillows, can't do cardio or pretty much anything active like clean free of pain... the list goes on and on.

I have always been against surgical procedures in the back/neck area because that is a highly sensitive area. Many things can go wrong and I have heard horror stories of things getting worse instead of better. I also know the medical industry has come a long way in that area so I am really conflicted. Do I take a risk? Do I live the way I have been? What are your thoughts on neck surgery? Anyone had or know of someone with success stories?

Remove sausage from casing and cook. While that cooks chop and sauté veggies with seasoning, olive oil and white wine. I use the same skillet but you can use separate ones if you choose then combine once it's done.

Steam mussels per pack instructions and once the butter sauce melts add 3-4 TBSP of the sauce to the Italian sausage. Begin boiling the noodles. When noodles and mussels done:

Serve!

Makes 4 servings.

This is low sodium, as I do not add any and it is loaded with protein. It has veggies and a normal amount of carbs - as long as you measured.

Dec 11, 2014

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee Elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.When he went to harness the Reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where. Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the Elves had drunk all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the Mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and an irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little Angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Dec 10, 2014

The holidays are here! Can you believe Christmas is only 2 weeks away? There has been an awful lot of craziness going on lately. In the meantime I have a really delish recipe to share with in the event you want to bring dessert to your party or get together.

This peanut butter cream pie is good down to the very last bite - I am sure you will agree. The best part? It is extremely simple.

Mix PB with 2 cups whipped cream. Drizzle some chocolate syrup into crust. Spoon PB mixture on top of that and spread evenly.

Use remaining cup of whipped cream (or more, if you like) to spoon on top. Drizzle with chocolate syrup and freeze. The hard part? Waiting until it has set to serve. If you are anything like me, you could eat it as is.

It has wonderful texture with a combination of creamy and crunchy. It is just enough sweetness but not too rich. Unfortunately, this means I can eat more. Good news is that the whipped cream is reduced calorie/reduced fat so I can eat more!!

Dec 9, 2014

People call me ma'am. [occasionally] Do I look like a "ma'am" to you???!!! NO, that is reserved for oooold ladies. Me, I'm not old...... well, maybe I am getting a little older. Hell, I'm closer to 40 than I am 30. I used to compare it to 20 but I'm not even going to put that in the equation anymore.

With age I:

Can't party all night anymore like I used to. There was once a time when I could go out and stay out until 2AM and then go to an after party. Now, I usually go home around 10PM which is the time I used to get started. Talk about embarrassing.

Can't party all weekend anymore (referring to the above if I can't do ONE night then I can't do multiples). I used to dance Friday and Saturday night then have some more fun on Sunday Funday whether it was football, pool parties, BBQs or just shenanigans in general.

Can't even stay up late anymore. My usual weekday bedtime is between 9 and 10P. My usual weekend bedtime is 9:30-10P. If we stay up til midnight I feel sopp cool like I did in my teens the first few times I stayed up late.

Can't sleep in. I am so used to getting up at 5:30AM every day that I'm lucky to sleep til 6:30AM on a weekend. WTF???!!!! This is probably also why I get tired early too. Is this what the aging process is about?

Can't dance the night away, my legs can't take it. I was a dancing machine and would only takes breaks for shots or a refill. Now, I can dance about 3-5 minutes before my legs burn.

On the plus side of aging:

Now that I don't go out to bars and clubs late night anymore I no longer deal with douche bags. BONUS!! This one is actually huge because I remember being newly single when I was 31 yrs old. A guy I had just met (ended up being 21 yrs old) texted me to say hello. The very next text was a pic of his erected _____. Go ahead and fill in the blank on that one.

My liver and kidneys are much healthier.

No drama!! In which case: Good ridden to my 20s!

WISDOM - gosh, I am so damn much wiser. Now I actually appreciate my family but before they were a pain in the @ss (usually). Additionally, I view things in a totally different light.

Driving a luxury car. I am more of a sporty type person but my Acura has more balls than any of the sporty little cars I have had in the past.

More patience..... not that I am totally patient but I have a lot more patience now than in my 20s.

I would say that aging has been a very graceful process for me. There have been a few bumps and bruises along the way but I have learned A LOT in my years. This makes me appreciate much more than I ever could before. It also makes me wary in situations when I should be, rather than being trusting of untrustworthy situations.

This was supposed to go up yesterday but for some reason my scheduled post didn't work. Oh well, it's here today

Dec 4, 2014

Thor picks up bag of bread and looks in it: "Is this it?" He pulls a squished half piece out of the bag. I start laughing because I have this habit of tearing a half piece of bread and then leaving the other half for later but since I already got my full 2 pieces of toast this morning I didn't notice that was it. I tell him he can have one of my pieces and I will have the half piece.

Come to find out the half piece was NOT actually something I had torn at but it was just 2 tiny pieces of the end left. He toasted them and went to butter it. Opened the dish and paused. Holding up the container says: "Really?"
Me: "Hey, I can't help it. That is what was left after I buttered these 2 pieces for us."

He gave one to me and grabbed the last piece but the last one came out burned. "Sh!t! It's burned!" I say just scrape it off. To which he replies "it is still gonna taste burned". He begins to eat it and tells our dog "see how mean mommy is?" Just like nothing was going on. Until I bust out laughing! It was pretty funny so we are laughing our butts off. Next thing he says is: "mmmmmm.....mine tastes like it was in the fireplace". ha, you sure are funny in the morning!

I've noticed that everyone has names for their hubbies, bfs, kids and whoever else in the house. Mine is very big and has been nicknamed Thor, I just haven't used it in the blog before. Today is all about Thor. Some of the great things I love about him. I know you were all curious. You're welcome.

He opens doors. All doors. All the time. Sometimes he tells me not to open the door if I am about to open it. In those cases I feel like a snooty princess

He allows me little bites of his food and sometimes little sips of his drinks. Like this size bite:

He thinks taking the trash out is the man's job so he doesn't want me to do it. Sometimes that means it sits for a while but it gets done.

Picks up the dog poo. This is a big deal because I don't care much for that.

Puts up with my shit - which isn't really much because I'm such a little peach all the time. (I'll be sure he doesn't read this post to say otherwise)

Buys me flowers

Misses me a lot - almost like separation anxiety.... ok, not that bad but he sure does love me

Likes to watch a variety of the Housewives -ssshhhh, don't tell.

In exchange for the wonder, there are some other things that are interesting. He:

Doesn't like it when kids scream in restaurants and has been known to stand up and shout out loud. At nobody in general, just shout. Kinda like a kid. It usually works.

Eats snacks that I get for myself. Special ones. Like the low cal PB2. Before I know it there's none left and he's paper thin saying he only had a little bit

Doesn't like to share his snacks - which is why I wrote bullet point #2 in above paragraph.

Takes BIG bites of my food when I share it

Talks during movies- like big long paragraphs, not just a quick word or two. I started pausing movies so I wouldn't miss about half of it. (because I was being sarcastic - not because I want to pause movies all the time to hear his thoughts on said movie or things he thought of because of the movie) He started pausing when he wanted to share a thought or 10! At which point I had to express my dislike and that if he wants a conversation we should do it at a time other than during the movie.

What can I say? He loves talking! Yes, he is definitely a talker. What are the funny things that happen in your house?

If you missed yesterday's post, check it out. It contains a few Pinterest Fails.

Dec 3, 2014

Wouldn't it be fun to see the Pinterest Christmas fails? Christmas is such a fun holiday and yesterday I talked about how I don't craft, bake or do anything that awesome with decorating. I love the decorations and all that goes along with Christmas but I am not good at it. So I leave the good stuff to everyone else and I just enjoy and compliment it. I will show you what it would look like if I were to partake in crafting, baking and decorating above basic stuff.

DECORATING:

Not bad except the angle of the camera to capture the baby is WAY off.